Greed is a game

“Greed is a game played with logic only and no morals.” Scarlett Thomas.

I spotted a few books in Borders recently that dealt with clinical techniques to achieve various ends without dealing with the moral aspects: How to get women, How to win wars, How to get power…

I can’t remember the author unfortunately. And subsequent visits to Border yielded no illumination. If you do please share it below.

Anyway, these books worked on the premise of pure didactics. The author presented the facts, the steps, on how to achieve the results; minus any ethical judgements or moral discussions. It is up to the reader to decide if and how to apply these tools.

In many ways this is like the Internet. It can be a collection of facts, tools and techniques that can be leveraged to achieve outcomes. Applied without any sense of empathy, morality or values, these can be very detrimental to the common good. Case in point: online bomb making instructions.

The facts and knowledge in and of themselves are not the issue. It comes back to the person applying them. In turn this can be affected by the system – the society, the religion, the corporate cultural norm – that either encourages or discourages specific behaviours.

One comment on “Greed is a game”

1. Zern said:
   

   Maryanne said (via email): I have found the author for the Seduction, Power and War books you were looking for – Robert Greene. The Art of Seduction, the 48 Laws of Power and The 33 Strategies of War.

   Thanks!!!

   
   14 September 2009 at 9:28 pm

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